Description
Object description
British driver mechanic served with 288 Coy, Royal Army Service Corps in North Africa, Italy, GB and North West Europe, 1942-1945; served NCO driver with 1521 Platoon, Royal Army Service Corps in Belgium, 1946
Content description
REEL 1 Recollections of background in Islington, London, 1922-1942: social circumstances; effects of death of father, 1931; education; sporting and Boys Brigade activities; holiday with Childrens' Country Holiday Fund; various jobs; work as van delivery driver, 1939-1942; outbreak of war, 3/9/1939; question of effect of German air raids on delivery work; duties as fire watcher with ARP; communal air raid shelters and use of Essex Road Tube Station; blackout and effects on driving; food and clothing rationing; effects of German bombing raids; opinion of Winston Churchill; relationship with neighbours.
REEL 2 Continues: call up procedure, 3/1942. Recollections of conditions of service, lifestyle and daily routine with W Squad, Royal Army Service Corps, Beacon Barracks, Bulford, 3/1942-4/1942: reception; barrack room; food rations; drill; rifle, bayonet and hand grenade training; PT; relationship with recruits, instructors and officers; canteen; kit inspections. Period at Sutton Veney, 4/1942-5/1942: driving course; training in maintenance programme; map reading. Periods at Halifax and Bradford, 5/1942-6/1942. Voyage aboard Queen Elizabeth to Port Tewfik, Egypt, 6/1942-7/1942: conditions; lack of escort; route.
REEL 3 Continues: Initial period in Egypt, 7/1942-8/1942: first impressions; restrictions on drink; lectures; route marches. Recollections of period as driver mechanic with 288 Coy, RASC in North Africa, 8/1942-11/1942: joining unit at El Hamman; composition of unit; reception; driving and routine maintenance of 3 ton Chevrolet lorry; sleeping in lorry; air raid dispersal precautions and slit trenches; duties carrying stores from Burg el Arab railhead to various supply depots; responsibility for supervising loading and unloading lorry; question of stealing stores; desert driving conditions and method of escaping from soft sand; opinion of Chevrolet; repairing punctures; dummy airfield; German air attacks; food rations; making tea; rum and cigarette rations.
REEL 4 Continues: refuelling arrangements; water supply; preparations and preliminary bombardment prior to EL Alamein offensive, 10/1942; situation during attacks. Recollections of advance through North Africa, 11/1942-5/1943: move to El Daba airfield, 11/1942; role carrying ammunition from divisional base to 57th Regt, Royal Artillery, risks of carrying petrol in flimsies and story of lorry blown up by mine; German air attacks; awareness of risk from mines; night trips to rendezvous with Long Range Desert Patrol Group; story of being marooned in desert after puncture incident without spare wheel; climate; sandstorms; desert faunae; lice problem; latrines and dysentery; relationship with Arab civilians; relationship with Royal Artillery; story of firing rifle at German aircraft; story of being shelled approaching Mareth Line; transporting German and Italian POWs; opinion of Churchill and Montgomery; opinion of officers.
REEL 5 Continues: Montgomery briefing prior to Battle of Mareth; continued advance; transporting German and Italian POWs; story of Arabs stealing from load of water melons; cannibalising abandoned German MT; story of getting drunk; German and Italian POWs. Recollections of operations in Italy, 9/1943-12/1943: voyage on LST and landing at Taranto; role carrying cargo from harbour; use of Italian workers; training replacement Italian drivers. Treatment for boil during voyage aboard Bergensfeld back to GB, 12/1943-1/1944. Periods at Cambridge, Salisbury Plain and Brentwood, 1/1944-6/1944: reorganisation of unit; equipment with Dennis tipper lorries; waterproofing lorries; loading with shells and embarkation on Liberty ship at Tilbury, 5/6/1944. Recollections of operations in France, Belgium, Netherlands and Germany, 6/1944-6/1945: crossing English Channel, 5/6/1944-6/6/1944: landing via LCT at Gold Beach, 7/6/1944; situation on beach; rendezvous with artillery unit; close escape from German shellfire.
REEL 6 Continues: unloading shells; carrying materials fro pioneers repairing roads; food rations; situation passing through Falaise gap, 8/1944; assisting Royal Engineers; reception from Belgian civilians in Brussels, 9/1944; Arnhem operations, 10/1944; Sten guns; assisting in building bridge over Juliana canal, Urmond; story of US aircraft attack on bridge; relationship with Dutch civilians; movements; V2 attacks on Antwerp; driving in snow; carrying ammunition to US units and question of fifth columnists; engine problems with new Ford lorries; crossing Rhine; detachments to assist various units; non-fraternisation with German civilians; carrying mail. Period at Bad Menorf, Germany, 6/1945-1/1946: duties; food convoys to Berlin; relationship with Soviet troops; state of German cities; giving driving instruction to pioneers.
REEL 7 Continues: conditions of service; relationship with German civilians; question of blackmarket; promotion to lance corporal; disbandment of unit, 1/1946. Period with 1521 Platoon, RASC at Brussels, 1/1946-6/1946: role distributing mail; question of effects of tiredness when driving; return to GB. Period with War Office Car Company, Albany Street, London, 6/1946-11/1946: role of unit; work as mechanic in workshops; murder inquiry. Post-war career: return to work as van delivery driver; insomnia attributed to war experiences; work as sales representative; call up on Z Reserve to Larkhill, 6/1951; attending reunions of 288 Coy, Royal Army Service Corps, 1948-1998.
